We are writing a live blog of the U.S. stock market Tuesday. You can read a wrap of pre-market actions here and after the open, a compact rundown of the stock market in Market Snapshot. For questions or comments, please email lmandaro@marketwatch.com.

In case you missed the stories earlier today, Pope Francis was talking stocks -- namely, criticizing the current economic system.

"How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses 2 points?" he wrote in a 224-page document known as the Apostolic Exhortation.

A Wall Street Journal story said the pope is seeking to position himself as the world’s chief critic of unchecked markets and economic inequality.

This chart shows the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling off a cliff in the last 20 minutes of trading. Even a 0.3 point gain was enough to mark a new record of 16,072.80, its 43rd record close this year. But the selloff, which wasn't replicated by the other indexes, was suspicious.

All three main indexes have hit fresh session highs in the last few minutes.

With about 80 minutes before the closing bell, they are on track for moderate gains rather than just the slight gains they had earlier in the session.

The Dow and S&P 500 are on pace for fresh record closes, while the Nasdaq is set for its first close above 4,000 since September 2000.

The Dow was last up about 46 points, or 0.3%, to 16,118.

S&P +5 points or 0.3% to 1,808

Nasdaq + 27 points or 0.7% to 4,021

2:14 pm | Gold inches up | by Victor Reklaitis

Gold settled slightly higher on Tuesday.

Here's a quote from our gold coverage, which you can read in full here and here:

"There is little fresh fundamental news to spark much interest" in gold, said Darin Newsom, senior analyst at DTN. "Much could depend on the next move in the U.S. dollar index, another consolidating market."

In other gold news, UBS cut its short-term price targets for the precious metal on Tuesday, citing “pressure on gold and the lack of supporting catalysts up ahead.”

1:37 pm | Wednesday's tape: Watch Chicago PMI | by Laura Mandaro

The econ slate is full Wednesday morning as research outfits cram in their releases before the Thanksgiving holiday. Deutsche Bank economist Joe Lavorgna just sent around a note highlighting the Chicago PMI, which is due for release at 9:45 a.m.

Of all the indicators released this week, the Chicago PMI is the most important given its extremely high correlation with the manufacturing ISM survey, which is released next Monday. We care about the ISM because it is usually highly predictive of broader economic performance such as real GDP growth.

Economists polled by MarketWatch are expecting a reading of 59, which would still signal expansion, but a slowdown from 65.9 in October.

1:19 pm | 5-year auction | by Laura Mandaro

Bonds are holding to gains after the 5-year auction, which showed slighly above-average demand from indirect bidders, the category that includes the foreign central banks, or the entities the U.S. relies on to keep borrowing. The bid-to-offer ratio, another sign of demand, was also a bit higher than average. Here's a look at the numbers.

Informal MW assessment: B+.

12:44 pm | More on SOCL | by Victor Reklaitis

Regarding that social media ETF, some traders on Twitter see a bearish pattern forming:

The NYSE is losing another top executive: Larry Leibowitz, the guy known around Wall Street as the COO of stock exchange parent NYSE Euronext, and just about everywhere else as the brother of “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart.

But given the interest in her career, MarketWatch has attempted to plot the so-called Couric return.

Go here for a blog post on that subject, including a chart that compares the stock performance of three public companies — Disney, GE and CBS — that owned the three corresponding television networks when she worked for them.

Perhaps bad weather and dreams of turkey and shopping are leading to subdued trading.

That's what Colin Ciezynski, senior analyst at CMC Markets, is suggesting in emailed comments this morning.

"Interestingly just as the winter weather has picked up, global stocks have gone relatively quiet," he writes.

He adds that "traders appear to be more interested in turkey and shopping than in taking on new positions in the market."

You can read the latest on the bad weather here: Airlines have begun waiving certain fees as a winter storm hit the East Coast on Tuesday and is poised to move north in the midst of the Thanksgiving travel rush.

10:56 am | H-P preview | by Victor Reklaitis

Analysts expect yet another decline in profit and sales for Hewlett-Packard, as the Silicon Valley pioneer wrestles with what executives say is a multi-year turnaround process.

That's according to our preview story for this upcoming earnings report.

Shares in H-P are little changed today, last down 0.4%. They've roughly doubled over the past 12 months.

10:51 am | Where's the usual stocks column? | by Victor Reklaitis

MarketWatch continues to publish a traditional daily stocks article in addition to this live blog.

After Monday's downer of a pending-home sales report, Tuesday's data on housing is looking a little better.

Building permits climbed 6.2% in October to the highest level in more than five years. But gains were mostly from the volatile multi-family (i.e. apartments) sector. Single-family home permits rose less than 1% from September.

Builders are doing pretty well, marking out spots among the S&P 500's top 10 most-advancing stocks.

Lennar + 3.3%

Pulte + 2.6%

DHI + 2.3%

9:47 am | Suit sellers' courtship | by Laura Mandaro

Investors are buying into the idea that a combined network of men's apparel retailers is better than two stand-alone businesses. Men's Wearhouse is up more than 5%, while Jos. A Bank Clothiers is rallying 12%. The rundown from retail reporter Andria Cheng:

Shawn Langlois' ever-insightful Need to Know blog contains this chart -- the ratio of cyclicals to the S&P 500. When it shoots up, investors are in risk-on mentality, buying up economically sensitive stocks. It hasn't been this high since 2011.

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